Paul Starr

Paul Starr is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect. and professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and the Bancroft Prize in American history, he is the author of eight books, including Entrenchment: Wealth, Power, and the Constitution of Democratic Societies, which will be out next year.

Recent Articles

THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF PREMATURE DEATH One argument for a sharp increase in tobacco taxes is that it would force smokers to pay for the increased medical costs they generate. But some economists say higher medical costs are only half the story. Peter Passell wrote last July in the New York Times that "a full accounting must also include the savings from smoking. Yes, savings: the reduced cost of private pensions, Social Security and nursing home care for smokers who die before their time." And on a full accounting, according to studies cited by Passell, the social costs of smoking may be too small even to justify current taxes, much less an increase. The economists making these arguments are breaking new ground. Public policy has always generally made the assumption that life is a benefit and worth preserving. But, on a "full accounting," a lot of people--particularly old people--are clearly more cost than benefit. So a policy that encourages them to kill themselves, such as low...

N ewt Gingrich thinks Americans need a new frontier to explore. He also believes in paying bounties to promote public objectives. Hence the proposal prepared at his invitation by space entrepreneur Robert Zubrin for a federal bounty of $20 billion payable to the first private organization that puts someone on Mars and brings that man or woman back to earth alive. The proposal is detailed in Zubrin's book, The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must (Free Press), and at the "Headquarters for the Mars Direct Manned Mars Mission" on the Web site, www.magick.net/mars/ . I don't wish to disparage the idea of settling another planet; in fact, we all know a few people who might fit in better on Mars, and this would at least be a first step toward giving them the chance to relocate. But $20 billion is a steep price to pay, and members of Congress may be hesitating to set aside that much money in the federal budget for fear of being brought back to earth by the voters...

MADE OF STERNER STUFF The Lewinsky investigation has put me to reflecting about the many opportunities for rectitude that were missed in our past. Americans have now been told, all too late, about the illicit sexual behavior of presidents from Thomas Jefferson to JFK. Just think of how much better informed and more righteous the American people might have been if the methods of uncovering the truth familiar to us today had only been used when they could have really mattered. Earlier presidents, for example, were never the target of civil suits in which the attorneys for the opposite side could oblige them to answer questions about their sexual relationships. Americans would have known so much more about the true moral character of our presidents if they had been subject to such unlimited questioning. It is interesting to speculate whether Jefferson might have been induced to lie under oath about his slave Sally Hemmings or whether Franklin Roosevelt might have been tempted to shade...

PASS THE MALICE Five mistakes in a single sentence must be some kind of record for America's greatest newspaper. On August 17, in an article about the new White House roles of Sidney Blumenthal and Paul Begala ("Clinton Looks for Inspiration From the Left"), the New York Times quoted the New Republic as saying about Blumenthal, "A beat is just an assignment but a slut is who you've become maybe." The next day the Times admitted the following: The statement had not appeared in the New Republic . The statement was not a reference to Blumenthal. The source of the statement was, in fact, Blumenthal himself. The statement comes from a work of fiction written by Blumenthalit is a line in a play, spoken by a reporter bemoaning his own career. The word "slut" was actually "slot." What does the Times say when it has twisted a man's own words into an insult supposedly directed at him? It says there was an "editing error." No apology necessary. As if this weren't bad enough, the same day the...

YOUR NAME HERE As public broadcasting has long shown, there is a thin line between philanthropy and advertising that is well on its way to being completely erased. Consider the recent proliferation of corporate logos on endowed professorships, as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education . Stanford has a Yahoo! chair of information systems technology; the University of Arizona has a Coca Cola distinguished professor of marketing; and Washington State has a Taco Bell distinguished professor of hotel and restaurant administration. I'm impressed by what companies have done so far, but I'm waiting for William Bennett to get the General Electric Chair in Philosophy. Mere advertising isn't enough for some firms. At West Virginia University, the Kmart professor of marketing is required to spend 30 days a year training Kmart store managers. It was a condition of the gift. Whole schools are out for bid, too. According to the Economist , Columbia University will rename its business school...